I'd love to know more about the VIC's life in italy.
Not so much to say: just like all over the world, the VIC was a meteor, with a life span of 2-3 years before the C64 (1983-1985, 36 months later than in the USA - as usual).
This means that it was the first computer for many people of my generation, as we were in the secondary school back then. As soon as we bought it, we immediately started reading (and dreaming) about the amazing 64, and this certainly marked its decadence.
The fab 80's were characterized here in Italy by a huge number of C64 magazines with attached cassettes full of pirated software
(examples can be found at
http://www.edicolac64.com/ ). The short life of the VIC-20 did not allow the creation of a big business for this platform; nonetheless, some mags preceeded the 64 ones.
You can find them in the above mentioned site: PEEK, PLAYGAMES, PROGRAM, SUPER COMMODORE, SUPER VIC & C64, VIDEO BASIC (BASIC lessons). Only some of them were pirated; some others, like the one I put on my site (Play on Tape, never seen before in the internet) were composed with original software, often programmed in BASIC by italian amateurs. Many of them were extremely young, and the request for co-operators in those magazines was frequently fullfilled by 15-18 y.o. students. They were paid for this, usually a small amount of money for each program, but the true glory came from your friends / relatives seeing your name published on the mag. Sic transit gloria mundi !
Last, the VIC was sold for ITL. 199.000, about 100 euros, which was not for every kid's pocket at that time!
PS- Am I the only italian here?
Done.
)
